Crash relatives appeal to Gus Dur

Crash relatives appeal to Gus Dur

SINGAPORE (DPA): Families of those killed in a SilkAir crash are urging Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to look into the lack of investigative updates on the cause of the 1997 disaster that killed all 104 people aboard, it was reported on Saturday.

A formal letter was turned over to Indonesia's ambassador in Singapore from members of an association representing the victims' families.

Ambassador Luhut Pandjaitan said he would turn over the letter to the president.

Association vice-chairman Aaron Ng told The Straits Times that during the 30-minute discussion, the ambassador was "very supportive" of their relatives' efforts to push for the results of the probe into the crash of the Singapore Airlines subsidiary. The freshly serviced plane, on a Jakarta to Singapore flight, went down in the Musi River in Palembang, Indonesia on Dec. 19, 1997.

Ng said the ambassador was concerned that they had not been able to contact the chief investigator, Professor Oetarjo Diran of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission.

The families were last briefed in August. The interim report suggested that human intervention had caused the Boeing 737 to crash and revealed that the pilot had a history of disciplinary and financial problems.

Ng said the final report was supposed to be ready late last year or at the beginning of this year.